An electric vehicle owner went on Twitter to share the trials of attempting to charge his Rivian R1T pickup at an Electrify America charging station.
Just as he plugged in, bad things began to happen, an individual using the name Anson with the handle @snkrticians said Sunday on the platform.
“Hey ElectrifyAM, I just plugged in my Rivian r1t and 1 minute later I hear a loud boom and now I have a bunch of error codes and I can’t even unplug my car,” said Anson, whose account said he lives in Southern California.
“[T]ook you guys 7 hours to get a guy out and that even wasn’t help. what’s the deal??? now my car is fried, too.”
hey @ElectrifyAm i just plugged in my @Rivian r1t and 1 minute later i hear a loud boom and now i have a bunch of error codes and i can’t even unplug my car…. took you guys 7 hours to get a guy out and that even wasn’t help. what’s the deal???? now my car is fried too… ? pic.twitter.com/6I7RsmZG0S
— Anson (@snkrticians) January 29, 2023
People responded with suggestions on how to handle such a situation, advice Anson said he followed, including activating the manual release for the charger and another manual release on the vehicle itself related to towing it.
Is there not a manual release for the charging port? Yikes.
— Brian Wilson (@brian_c_wilson) January 29, 2023
I saw a couple of days ago on a “how to tow a Rivian” video there is a manual release under the plastic cover in the frunk. Pop the plastic trim off and pull the latch.
— John Davis (@J_Dav1) January 29, 2023
Anson lamented that he was two hours away from home. After seven hours, when the technician arrived, it was suggested that the charger be sawed off because the technician, like Anson, could not pry it from the vehicle.
“Absurd,” Anson tweeted.
However, he was appreciative that Rivian provided rideshare credits to get him home by 3 a.m.
i was two hours away from home, technician wanted to saw the charger off because he couldn’t even pry it off… absurd. now my car is sitting at the charger, what’s next? a rental? a new car? thankfully @Rivian gave me rideshare credits so atleast i can be back home at 3am.
— Anson (@snkrticians) January 29, 2023
In the troubleshooting, speculation took place on Twitter about who was at fault, Rivian or Electrify America, with Anson noting a similar incident several months ago with an electric Ford F-150 Lightning.
tried it, did nothing. this isn’t rivians issue. it’s EA’s, same thing happened to another lighting owner 2 months ago.
— Anson (@snkrticians) January 29, 2023
Anson apparently was referring to reports in November that a Ford F-150 Lightning made a loud noise and displayed error codes while charging. Then both charger and vehicle gave up the ghost, with the truck’s owner, EV enthusiast Eric Roe, stranded a thousand miles from home.
My @Ford Lightning bricked today at an @ElectrifyAm charger. I’m 1000 miles from home, the EA charger when black, and my Lightning won’t move. I’m screwed.
— Eric Roe (@Eric_L_Roe) November 27, 2022
For his part, Anson tweeted a picture of the 150-volt Electrify America charging unit with clearly defined evidence of an electrical fire visible at its top.
The Western Journal was unable to independently verify any of his claims.
In response to tweets from Tesla owners advocating that brand instead of the Rivian, Anson said, “I’ve had all the Teslas and was driving [the Tesla] M3P before this.” He indicated he got the Rivian “because it looked more cool and could do the 0-60 [mph] my 3 did but even faster.”
To which a Twitter user responded: “No need to justify your decision. Rivian is a cool car. Any EV is better than an ICE” — internal combustion engine.
No need to justify your decision. Rivian is a cool car. Any EV is better than ICE.
— Luis Mondesi (@13m5) January 30, 2023
Perhaps. But at this rate, EVs will not be a better choice in this decade. And maybe not in the next one. Or three.
Because getting charging stations to match cars is an easy fix, but there’s still the need to develop a reliable supply chain with enough unique materials for EVs and their batteries.
Not to mention the required upgrading of our electrical grid. And that’s with a brand new power generation technology that, we’re told, will be sufficient with wind and solar power.
Call me a skeptic.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
